PET Centers, Hospitals Across State Join with UAMS to Bring Medical Cyclotron, Needed Isotopes to Arkansas Baptist Health, St. Bernard’s, St. Joseph’s PET Among Partners
| LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas physicians and hospitals that currently must go out of state to buy isotopes necessary for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scanning, will soon have access to those isotopes in-state, thanks to a new facility at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS).
UAMS will break ground March 5 for a facility that will house the first medical cyclotron that has full research capabilities, as well as the state’s first Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) hybrid fusion imaging scanner.
In PET scanning, patients receive a dose of a radioisotope containing substances that mimic those normally used in the body, including water, sugar, proteins and oxygen. These radioisotopes accumulate in diseased cells differently than they do in healthy cells. During the scan the radioisotopes are detected by the scanner, which allows a picture of the patient’s anatomy to be created. This picture helps doctors locate and determine the extent (or stage) of a disease and track how rapidly tumors are growing. It also is valuable for monitoring the progress of cancer treatment like chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and for monitoring patients for recurrence of cancers.
Medical cyclotrons produce the radioisotopes used in PET scanning. The ability to produce these radioisotopes at UAMS will not only save in health care costs, it will give Arkansans access to isotopes that were previously unavailable to them. The radioisotopes used in PET scanning have very short half-lives, which means they have a limited life span before their radioactivity decays to the point they can no longer be used (some half-lives are only 2 minutes). Only one isotope, currently in use at the UAMS PET Center, fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), has a half-life long enough to allow transportation from out-of-state cyclotron facilities.
With the new, on-site medical cyclotron, UAMS will be able to produce and supply FDG to other PET facilities in Arkansas. UAMS also will be able to utilize those other isotopes that expire within minutes of production.
“Having a medical cyclotron on the UAMS campus will not only result in improved patient care and lower medical costs,” said Ernest J. Ferris, M.D., chairman of the Department of Radiology in the UAMS College of Medicine, “it will also allow us to perform cutting edge medical research.”
“Because PET providers all across our state need the radioisotopes used in PET scanning it made much more financial sense and it also would benefit more people around the state for us to form a statewide partnership rather than just simply bringing a very expensive tool like a Cyclotron here to serve one provider,” said Joel Studt, vice president of marketing and business development for the UAMS PET Center.
“With that in mind we approached many healthcare providers, and all of the PET facilities around the state and asked them to join in this partnership with us. All but one that was approached came on board and we now have several partners in this venture with UAMS, including Baptist Health, St. Bernard’s Healthcare in Jonesboro, St. Joseph’s PET Center in Hot Springs and Radiology Consultants of Little Rock.”
“Having the radioisotopes used in PET scanning produced in Arkansas will benefit our PET center in a number of ways. It will not only lower healthcare costs, it will also allow us to expand our hours, thus increasing our ability to better accommodate our patients’ schedules,” said Ben Owens, chief executive officer of St. Bernards Healthcare.
The new PET/CT technology, which will be housed in the same facility as the cyclotron, is also the first in the state. It will help physicians detect and manage diseases in their patients, even in very early stages of disease development, something not currently possible. The hybrid system combines two powerful imaging technologies, PET and Computed Tomography (CT, or CAT-scan), into one scanner that provides doctors with unique information about patient disease to help them distinguish malignant and benign lesions and to identify primary cancer sites as well as any metastases.
This PET/CT system will also be instrumental in assessing heart disease and neurology disorders. PET shows changes in a patient’s cells and many times this helps doctors see variations in the body’s metabolism even before changes are seen in the anatomy. CT, on the other hand, shows detailed images of the body’s anatomy and internal structure. Combining the two types of images produces the most powerful and detailed images available. The information derived from fusion imaging will give physicians the best information available, allowing them to prescribe the most effective treatments for individual patients.
“This new technology will help us provide excellent care for our patients,” said UAMS PET Center Co-Medical Director, Ron Walker, M.D. “A clear diagnosis is the first step to getting patients proper treatment and on their way back to health.”
The UAMS PET Center is an outpatient imaging facility, located at UAMS, which provides Positron Emission Tomography (PET) scans to Arkansas patients. It is a partnership between UAMS and Medical Imaging Sales and Service.